Referring to the fact that the German government has decided again to donate a large mount of money to Poland to help it preserve its relics, the commentary notes: For several decades the German government has paid reparation for the crimes Germany committed against humanity during the Second World War after honestly admitting them. This gesture was prompted by its political will not to repeat such crimes.

The commentary goes on:

Japan is behaving meanly and shamelessly quite contrary to Germany's gesture, though it committed similar crimes against humanity.

Japan has made neither honest repentance nor due reparation for its hideous crimes committed against humanity in the past.

The Japanese reactionaries have become zealous in their moves to whitewash and justify the crimes committed by the Japanese imperialists, much less redressing them. Japan went so mean as to burn up and destroy the documents about those crimes for fear of their disclosure. They are letting loose rhetoric that the issue of redressing the past has been already settled. This is like burying one's head ostrich-like in the sand.

It is ridiculous, indeed, for Japan to make a desperate bid for permanent membership of the UN Security Council, hyping its "economic potential" and its contribution to the UN though it has not yet shaken off the ill-fame as an enemy state.

Japan's settlement of its past is a barometer showing whether it has the will to break with its militarist past and turn over a new leaf or not and whether it is serious about gaining international confidence or wishes to remain isolated from the international community.

It would be well advised to face up to the international trend and take an option for redressing its past as early as possible, concludes the commentary.